My 2005 Civic's valve cover went from leaking to dry in 2 hours with a $12 gasket
Last Saturday I finally got tired of the oil smell in my garage every time I parked my 2005 Civic. It had 187,000 miles and the valve cover gasket was seeping oil onto the exhaust manifold, leaving a burnt smell after every drive. I picked up a Fel-Pro gasket for $12 at the parts store down the street. Took me about 2 hours to pull the cover, scrape off the old gasket, clean the mating surface with brake cleaner, and torque the bolts to 7 ft-lbs in sequence. The before and after was night and day. No more smell, no more oil drips on the driveway, and the engine bay stayed clean for the first time in 3 years. I checked the oil level after a week and it hadn't moved a bit. Has anyone else had a small leak like this that turned out to be a simple fix?